Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1887-06-22
Rebel Flags.

land for the return of the rebel flags
from the War Department, to the
n respective, late rebel states.
is The following despatch from New
S York under date of June Is, reveals
to a certain degree the sense of the
Union men who passed through the
war, against the Presidents order:
May the hand that wrote the or
IS der be palsied.'
r, May the brain be epalsied that con-
If ceived it; may the tongue be palsied
= that dictated it.
Veterans of the war heard these
I words with bated breath and glanced
l. at each other in awe as the words
g we're spoken by Gen. Fairchild, the
+ Commander in chief of the Grand
Army of the Republic, last night, in
Association Hall, in Harlem. The
occasion was a reception rendered to
I the Commander in-C Chief by Alezan-
S der Hamilton Post, 1S2, G. A R.
d Visitors were present from every
= Grand Army post in New York city
and vicinity. Post Commander A
NJ. Underhill presided.
Before the meeting opened it oe
/ came known that General Ross, of
: Austin Texas. had received letter
, from the Adjutant General Of the
! United States Army stating that the
President had approved the recon-
mendation, and the Secretary of War
: had been instructed to return all the
{ Confederate flags in custody of the
War Department to the Southern
States from whose regiments the flags
had been captured.
General Fairchild entered the hall
with stern features. Hardly waiting
for the usual formalities of the meet.
ing the one-armed leader burst forth
with the bitter expressions recorded
above. He told of the news received
by telegraph that the President had
approved of the return of the ''rebel'
flags, and how those flags had been
Won hy the veterans of the Grand .
Army of the Republic in open con-
f1ict with the enemies of the nation.
The veterans had placed their troph- :
les in care of the War Department, !
to be kept in the archives of the ma {
ton as mementoes of hard-won fields
of battle. He continued: q
How can the present loyal Gov 3
ernors OF the Southern States accept n
emblems of treason after their pro E
fessions of loyalty to the Union =? I
Must they not return them to the Y
Secretary and say that they have i
nothing to do with the flags, as the n
rebel organizations are extinct and +
their Governors are dead? 4
General Fairchild said that in nine !.
months past he had visited G. A. R. !
posts in every State in the North, i
East and West, and he had never :
heard ANYTHING bnt Kindly feelings I
expressed towards the men who had :
looked into the gun barrels of North s
ern troops during the war. As Com g
mander in Chief he had tried to en- Z
courage this kindly feeling. Now !
this was changed. The time had !
come to speak in the name of the or
ganization. If he could not protest ,
against it as Commander in Chief of {
the G. A. R., he would resign and /,
protest as private citizen. But he :
was satisfied that $4,000 G. A. r. =,
veterans would rise as one man in \
solemn protest against any such dis {
position of the trophies won at such '
fearful sacrifice of blood Raising
his only hand, the General said:
Il appeal to the sentiment of the I
nation to forbid this sacrilege."
There was moments silence. 4 G
wild hurrah like the old battle cry c
went up. For few minutes men {
cheered, wild with the oldspirit.
Corporal Tanner was present with G
out his G. A. r. badge, aud said that 8
after the action of the President in {
the case Of the rebel flags next thing {
would be an order demanding that :
the veterans of the wer should return t
their badges, as they were made of {
metal cast from guns captured in the {
war
These resolutions were adopted {
with shout:
WHEREAS, The President of the !
United States having approved the {
recommendation that all the battle ,
flags in the custody of the War De-
partment, belonging to the Southern
States in rebellion during the late
civil war, be returned to the respec-
tive States which bore them for such
final disposition as they may deter
mine-be it
RESOLVED, That this post views with
surprise the action of the President
and records its protests thereto: and,
ReSOfUed, Thatthe sacrifice of blood
which the captured emblems repre-
sent was sacrifice to liberty. nation
al union and to God; and
ResoLUed, That no sentiment of gen.
erosity and no expression OF magnan-
unity is involved in the surrender of
these covenants of national honor
and
Resotred, That it only now remains
to direct that the battle flags of the
union be distributed among the rep
resentatives Of the so called Confed-
eracy, and as a fitting acknowledg
ment of the Righteousness of the
Lost Cause :" and
Re'Otred, That this Post expresses
its disapprobation of this act of the
first President of the United States.
who has held Office disassociatedfr from
the memories of the war for the In
ion